Sufism and Pesantren as the Part of Our Islamic and Indonesian Identity

Abstract

Tasawuf or Sufism in pesantren is an important material teaching that Muslims in Indonesia are very familiar. Historically, this social reality is important to understand that the beginning of Islamization here has put forward the nuances of Sufism. Saints and ulama such as  Walisongo in Java are teachers of Islamic religion who have a very Sufistic nuance in their teachings. They attach great importance to this esoteric aspect of religion. The characteristic of Sufism that they spread is Ghazalian centric and accommodate social smoothness. In this way, the characteristic of their Sufism can still be integrated with the existing local cultures, so that their wisdom and religiosity can provide peace and enlightenment as well as harmony with the social realities and locality. This article wants to introduce the characteristic of Sufism and the role of pesantren as exemplified by the saints (Walis) in Java as an "introductory" paper. This article intends to study the wisdom of the saints (Walis) in Java and the pioneers of the pesantren world in spreading islamicity. They have been chummy to Sufism for a long time in opening wide a model of islamicity and Indonesian identity. In this Context we can understand that Sufism is not only a complement learning of kalam and fiqh, but also has been part of religiosity in this country for a long time. The smoothness of Sufism is important to transform a model of Islamicity that is more tolerant, calm, friendly, and more Indonesian.